Blade magazine



June 1949. J. MUROS, 2,473,812

BLADE MAGAZINE Filed Jan. 23, 1945 Patented June 21, 1949 UNITED sures PAT-EN T O FF ICE BLADE MAGAZINE Application January 23, 19.45, Serial No. 5174,05

This invention comprises -a new and improved magazine for safety razor blades constructed and (arranged to afford the user at all times direct visual indication of the number of blades contained therein and having certain other structural features which render the magazine .comzenient and inexpensive to manufacture as well .as compact and pleasing in appearance.

Themagazine of my invention is so organized and constructed as to obviate the annoyance frequently encountered heretofore of havin the magazine run .out of its supply of blades at an inopportune time. To avoid this mischance, it has been the practice heretofore to insert near the bottom of the blade stack a dummy blade or a cardboard blank as a Warning to. the user; for example, when the blade supply has been drawn down to two blades, the warning blank is ejected. But even this expedient has not been entirely satisfactory .for occasionally the user is inattentive and may transfer the dummy blade to his razor and then, afterall preparations have been :made, find that .he has no shaving edge available.

The magazine herein shown includes .a casing which encloses and protects the blade stack and at the same time provides a sight opening :or window where a portion, for example one corner of the blade stack, is exposed to view adjacen-t to a. scale indicating the exact number .of blades present in the magazine from the time it contains a full charge of ten or more blades to the time when a single blade only remains.

As herein shown, the magazine includes as one element a blade-carrying unit in which the stack of hladesmay .be placed by the manufacturer under conditions safeguarding the fragile, keen edge of the blades and then .the charged or loaded unit may be slipped bodily into the casing of the magazine where it is automatically locked in .place and the blades brought within the range of a spring which positions them for election one by one. The magazine casing and the blade-carrying .unit-co-operate to define-and provide the sight opening through which the portion of the stack is exposed for indicating the. number of blades therein.

Another feature of the magazine herein shown consists in an improved feed slide of spring sheet material having connected outer and inner opposed sections which are arranged to engage between them a slotted wall of the casing, be-

ing thusguided accurately in the predetermined path requisite for feeding one blade after .an-' other from the blade stock.

4 Claims. (Cl. 206-46) be best understood and appreciated from the following description .of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown .in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective on a greatly enlarged scaleof the complete magazine shown as containing five remaining blades of a stack;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective at a scale of substantially natural size showing the parts of the magazine exploded relation; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are views in longitudinal section on the same scale as Fig. 1, showing the iced slide in two different positions.

The magazine herein selected for purposes of illustration is designed especially for handling single-edge safety razor blades. These blades are maintained in fiat condition for shaving in the razor and as illustrated are provided with perforations in the shape of the letters of the word Valet, the perforations thus formed being arranged :to receive corresponding blade-1ocating projections in the various razors with which .the blade is intended to be used. It will be understood, however, that the magazine of my invention is not limited to this or to any specific typeof. blade but that. with suitable modifioations, it may be readily adapted for other sharp edge blades, all within the scope of the present invention.

The casing hi the magazine may be formed of sheet metal .or it may be moulded of sheet plastic material. It is substantially rectangular in shape, having .a bottom Hi, side walls H and I2, and a top wall formed by two inturned flanges 4.3,, separated longitudinally by a medial slot through which .a part of the face of the uppermost blade of .the stack is exposed. At its delivery end, :the casing is provided with a .pair .of stop pins M for limiting the movement of the feed slide and with .a forwardly projecting key I5 which is formed integral with the bottom H! of the casing and serves the function of registering the magazine properly with respect to the razor it is to supply. A curved leaf spring i5 ishi'iveted to the bottom [0 of the casing near the rear end thereof. If not obstructed in its movement, .the spring passes upwardly and engages the inner face of the flanges 13 near the delivery end of the :casing, but in the complete magazineit underlies the blade stack and presses the. uppermost blade of the stack against the flanges L3, as will presently appear. .A 'detent sh!- :is formed in the bottom of the casing, vjust behind therear end of the spring l6, this de- ThGSEflIld-(OMIBI :features .of the invention will tent snapping into a correspondin recess in the blade-holding unit when the latter is assembled with the casing.

The blade-holding unit comprises a bottom plate I8, having an upright end wall I9 at its forward end and an upright end wall 20 at its rear end. It has also a side wall 2i of the proper length to engage the back edge of the blades in the blade stack, and inturned reentrant curved flanges or hooks 22 and 23 at its ends which, together with the side wall 2|, positively engage the back of each blade and hold the blades of the stack in alignment.

The bottom I8 of the blade-holding unit is provided with a long, medial slot 24, which is considerably narrower than the blades stacked above it but wide enough to permit the passage of the spring I6 With clearance. At each end of the slot 24, the bottom I8 is provided with a longitudinal channel 25, which is aligned with the slot 24 and provides temporary clearance for containing the spring I6 while the blade-holding unit is being slipped into the casing. The front end Wall I9 is shorter than the rear wall 20, being of such height that its upper edge defines with the inner face of the flanges I3 2. blade-exit opening of just the proper width to accommodate singly the blades of the blade-stack. On the other hand, the wall 20 completely closes the rear end of the magazine casing except for the shallow notch 26 in the upper edge thereof which affords passage for the connecting portion of the feed slide to be described hereinafter. A recess or socket 21 is provided in the bottom I8 of the blade-holding unit for the purpose of receiving the detent I! of the casing.

The feed slide is made of spring sheet metal and comprises three integrally connected portions; viz., a transversely corrugated outer finger plate 28 which is bridge-shaped and embraces the flanges I3 of the casing at their extreme edges and extends downwardly in contact with the side walls II and I2 thereof; a U-shaped connecting portion or neck 29; and an inner blade-engaging plate 30. The inner plate 30 is disposed yieldingly in parallel relation to the outer plate 28 and spaced therefrom to press yieldingly against the under face of the flanges I3; that is to say, the inner and outer opposed portions of the feed slide yieldingly engage the flanges I3 between them. The connecting neck 29 is bent flatwise and is of such width as to pass freely through the slot or opening between the opposed edges of the flanges I3 and also through the notch 26 in the rear Wall 2% of the blade-holding unit. The inner plate so, on the contrary, is substantially wider than either the opening between the flanges or the notch 28. Accordingly, movement of the feed slide on the casing toward the rear is limited by engagement if the rear edges of the inner plate 38 with the rear wall 20 at either side of the clearance notch 26. Forward movement of the feed slide is limited by the stop pins I4 already referred to.

In the drawings, the blades are designated by reference character 3| and, as best shown in Fig. 2, each blade is provided with a curved reentrant notch 32 in each of its ends for the accommodation of the reentrant flanges 22 and 23 of the wall 2|. It will be apparent that the blades 3] may be placed in the blade-holding unit, registered vertically in stacked formation and entirely remote from any elevating spring. The loaded unit is now slipped forwardly into the casing of the magazine, the rear end of the spring I 6 finding clearance in the channel 25. As soon as 4 the forward end of the slot 24 passes beyond the forward end of the spring I6, the latter springs upwardly through the slot 24, contacting the forward end of the blade stack and moving the whole blade stack up into contact with the flanges I3 as shown in Fig. 3. Inward movement of the unit is finally arrested when the detent H on the bottom of the casing springs into the recess 21 in the plate I8. There is enough spring in the con- 'struction of the casing to permit the rear wall 20 to be forced into its final position as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The location of the area of engagement of the spring I6 with the bottom of the blade stack is of primary importance in that when properly arranged it prevents the feed slide from picking up a second blade before the first has been fully ejected. It will be noted that in Fig. 4 the uppermost blade of the stack is shown as fully ejected and the spring is shown as pressing the blade stack against the inner plate 30 of the feed slide in such position that these two members co-operate to hold the rear portion of the stack spaced below the flanges I3. The same condition exists when a partially ejected blade is considered as occupying the place of the plate 30; that is to say, the rear portion of the stack is held by pressure of the spring I6 against the partially ejected blade in the position shown in Fig. 4 and the second blade in the stack can not be picked up by subsequent reciprocation of the feed slide until the first blade is almost entirely ejected.

The blade exit slot is indicated by reference character 33 and this, as already explained, is defined by the upper edge of front wall IQ of bladeholding unit and the lower face of the flanges I3 of the casing. The end wall I9 terminates short of the reentrant flange 23, providing a sight window, thus exposing one rear corner of the blade stack which lies between these two elements. In this connection it is important to expose a portion of the blade stack in which the blade edges are unsharpened, both to avoid damage to the shaving edges of the blades and because the optical efiect of a stack of sharpened blade edges produces a black area that is diificult to gauge. The wall I9 is provided with a scale 34 herein shown as indicating a capacity of twelve blades. The key I5 is located adjacent to and below the bladeexit opening 33. The scale 34 being located at the delivery end of the magazine indicates the number of blades therein, including the blade in process of election and up to the instant when that blade is released.

Figs. 1 and 3 show the feed slide in its initial position preparatory to feeding the uppermost blade of the stack out through the delivery opening 33 and in this position the inner plate 30 of the feed slide is held yieldingly against the flanges I3, while the uppermost blade 3| of the blade stack is held in direct registration with the plate 30 by the action of the spring I6. In other words, both the blade-feeding plate 30 and the blade it is to feed are yieldingly pressed against the under face of the flanges I3 and are thus located at exactly the same level. The uppermost blade is ejected by moving the feed slide forwardly until arrested by the stop pins I 4 in which position the uppermost blade will have been ejected, as shown in Fig. 4.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patent:

1. A blade magazine comprising an outer open end casing and an inner blade-carrying unit having a side wall terminating at its ends in reentrant flanges, a stack of single-edged blades having unsharpened ends and backs and' being retained with their backs against said side wall, and an end wall in said unit separated by a space from one of said reentrant flanges, thereby providing a sight window exposing to view an unsharpened area of the blade stack.

2. A blade magazine comprising a casing having a pair of spaced flanges forming its top, means for supporting a stack of blades within the casing, and an integral feed slide of spring sheet metal having an outer finger piece merging at its rear edge into a U-shaped connecting neck which is bent fiatwise of the metal, and an inner plate merging at its rear edge into said neck and held yieldingly thereby against the underface of the flanges.

3. A blade magazine comprising an elongated casing of substantially rectangular cross section and having side walls and open ends, a b1adecarrying unit shaped to enter the casing from one open end and having a vertically slotted end Wall defining a sight window extending throughout the vertical extent of said end wall through which sight window the number of blades in the stack may be ascertained by direct observation, and a scale adjacent to the sight window indicating the number of such blades.

4. A blade magazine comprising an elongated casing of substantially rectangular cross section and having side walls and open ends, a bladecarrying unit shaped to enter the casing from one open end and having a vertically slotted end wall defining a sight window extending throughout the vertical extent of said end wall through which sight window the number of blades in the stack may be ascertained by direct observation, and a scale on said wall adjacent to the sight Window indicating the number of such blades, said blade-carrying unit being enclosed within the casing and said slotted end wall being spaced from a wall of the casing and thus providing a blade-exit slot.

JOSEPH MUROS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 504,026 Fiedler et al Aug. 29, 1893 981,030 Stinson Jan. 10, 1911 1,935,311 Cook Nov. 14, 1933 1,969,945 Rodrigues Aug. 14, 1934 2,200,752 Kuhnl May 14, 1940 2,202,468 Rodrigues May 28, 1940 2,312,502 Testi Mar. 2, 1943 

